Study claims kill switch for stolen cellphones could save $2.5 billion per year

It’s easy to understand the personal benefits of a potential kill switch requirement for cellphones; thieves would have less incentive to swipe your handset if they knew that it would become a brick. However, Creighton University professor William Duckworth has conducted a study suggesting that a remote shutdown feature could also save phone users a lot of money. Based on a 1,200-person survey, he estimates that consumers could avoid spending a total of $2.5 billion per year — $500 million in buying replacement phones, and $2 billion in insurance that covers theft. The savings would be good news for customers, though not the carriers and insurers that earn revenue from the status quo.

With that said, there are concerns that the study is overly optimistic. Asurion (which is in the phone insurance business) reckons that about 60 percent of missing phones are lost, not stolen; you might want to pay for coverage if you tend to forget phones at the bar. A kill switch also wouldn’t completely eliminate theft, since nogoodniks might still want phones for parts. Even if Duckworth is looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses, though, his survey suggests that at least some cellphone owners could hold on to more of their cash.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Source: Huffington Post

Must See HDTV for the week of March 31st: HIMYM finale, Game of Thrones, Final Four

March Madness comes to an end this weekend, but it’s the perfect time for the return of one of our favorite series, HBO’s Game of Thrones. It’s joined Sunday night by the premiere of Mike Judge’s new comedy Silicon Valley, and Turn, a new Revolutionary War spy drama from AMC. This is also the week we finally say goodbye to How I Met Your Mother, and Anchorman 2 arrives on Blu-ray. Check after the break for trailers plus our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.

Blu-ray, Streaming movies & Games

• Anchorman 2: the Legend Continues
• 47 Ronin (3D)
• The Pirate Fairy
• Fargo (remastered)
• Dragon Ball Z (S3)
• MLB 14: The Show (PS3)
• Goat Simulator (PC)
• The Elder Scrolls Online (PC)
• Halo: Spartan Assault (PC – Steam)

Monday

• Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 8PM
• Bones, Fox, 8PM
• Bitten, Syfy, 8PM
• How I Met Your Mother (series finale), CBS, 8PM
• Star-Crossed, CW, 8PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8PM
• WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
• Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall, HBO, 9PM
• Friends with Better Lives (series premiere), CBS, 9PM
• The Following, Fox, 9PM
• The Tomorrow People, The CW, 9PM
• Dallas, TNT, 9PM
• Being Human, Syfy, 9PM
• Mike & Molly, CBS, 9PM
• Mom, CBS, 9:30PM
• The University of Sing Sing, HBO, 9:45PM
• House of Food (series premiere), MTV, 10PM
• Bates Motel, A&E, 10PM
• Archer, FX, 10PM
• Intelligence (season finale), CBS, 10PM
• Lost Girl, Syfy, 10PM
• Chozen (spring finale), FX, 10:30PM
• Inside Comedy, Showtime, 11PM

Tuesday

• Glee, Fox, 8PM
• Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC, 8PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8PM
• Rockets/Nets, TNT, 8PM
• NCIS, CBS, 8PM
• The Story of the Jews with Simon Schama, PBC, 8PM
• Flyers/Blues, NBC Sports Network, 8PM
• The Mindy Project (spring premiere), Fox, 9PM
• From Dusk Till Dawn, El Rey Network, 9PM
• About a Boy, NBC, 9PM
• Face Off, Syfy, 9PM
• The Goldbergs, ABC, 9PM
• NCIS: LA, CBS, 9PM
• Twisted (season finale), ABC Family, 9PM
• Growing Up Fisher, NBC, 9:30PM
• Trophy Wife, ABC, 9:30PM
• The Listener (season premiere), ION, 10PM
• Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge, Syfy, 10PM
• Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan, BBC America, 10PM
• Clash of the Ozarks (season finale), Discovery, 10PM
• Game of Arms, AMC, 10PM
• Mind Games, ABC, 10PM
• The Profit, CNBC, 10PM
• Person of Interest, CBS, 10PM
• Justified, FX, 10PM
• Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
• Cougar Town (season finale), TBS, 10PM
• Inside Amy Schumer (season premiere), Comedy Central, 10:30PM
• Trail Blazers/Lakers, TNT, 10:30PM
• Are You The One? Reunion, MTV, 10:30PM

Wednesday

• Arrow, CW, 8PM
• Survivor, CBS, 8PM
• Melissa & Joey, ABC Family, 8PM
• American Idol, Fox, 8PM
• The Middle, ABC, 8PM
• WWE Main Event, ION, 8PM
• Bruins/Red Wings, NBC Sports Network, 8PM
• Suburgatory, ABC, 8:30PM
• Baby Daddy, ABC Family, 8:30PM
• The 100, CW, 9PM
• Modern Family, ABC, 9PM
• Mixology, ABC, 9:30PM
• Psych After Show, USA, 10PM
• Doll & Em (season finale), HBO, 10PM
• The Americans, FX, 10PM
• Legit, FXX, 10PM
• Workaholics, Comedy Central, 10PM
• Nashville, ABC, 10PM
• The Real World, MTV, 10PM
• Chicago PD, NBC, 10PM
• CSI, CBS, 10PM
• Triptank (series premiere), Comedy Central, 10:30PM
• Deal With It, TBS, 10:30PM
• Ali G: Rezurection, FXX, 10:30PM

Thursday

• Once Upon A Time in Wonderland (series finale), ABC, 8PM
• Community, NBC, 8PM
• The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8PM
• Spurs/Thunder, TNT, 8PM
• Parks & Recreation, NBC, 8:30PM
• The Millers, CBS, 8:30PM
• American Idol, Fox, 9PM
• Saint George, FX, 9PM
• Suits, USA, 9PM
• Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 9PM
• Reign, CW, 9PM
• Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9PM
• Hollywood Game Night, NBC, 9PM
• Surviving Jack, Fox, 9:30PM
• Anger Management, FX, 9:30PM
• The Crazy Ones, CBS, 9:30PM
• Review with Forrest Macneil, Comedy Central, 10PM
• Portlandia, IFC, 10PM
• Scandal, ABC, 10PM
• Vikings, History, 10PM
• Parenthood, NBC, 10PM
• Sirens, USA, 10PM
• Mavericks/Clippers, TNT, 10:30PM

Friday

• Turbo Fast, Netflix
• Unforgettable (spring premiere), CBS, 8PM
• WWE SmackDown, Syfy, 8PM
• Last Man Standing, ABC, 8PM
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?, CW, 8PM
• Rake, Fox, 8PM
• The Neighbors, ABC, 8:30PM
• Hart of Dixie, CW, 9PM
• Enlisted, Fox, 9PM
• Bellator MMA Live, Spike TV, 9PM
• Raising Hope (series finale), Fox, 9PM
• Shark Tank, ABC, 9PM
• Bruce Springsteen’s High Hopes, HBO, 9:30PM
• Continuum (season premiere), Syfy, 10PM
• Game of Stones (season finale), Discovery, 10PM
• Hannibal, NBC, 10PM
• Vice, HBO, 11PM

Saturday

• NCAA Basketball Tournament Final Four, TBS, 6:09PM
• NCAA Basketball Tournament Final Four, TBS, 8:49PM
• The Trials of Cate McCall, Lifetime, 8PM
• Ripper Street, BBC America, 9PM
• Da Vinci’s Demons, Starz, 9PM
• Saturday Night Live: Anna Kendrick/Pharrell, NBC, 11:30PM

Sunday

• NASCAR Sprint Cup Series @ Texas Motor Speedway, Fox, 2:30PM
• Bob’s Burgers, Fox, 7PM
• American Dad, Fox, 7:30PM
• Giants/Dodgers, ESPN, 8PM
• The Simpsons, Fox, 8PM
• Once Upon a Time, ABC, 8PM
• The 49th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, CBS, 8PM
• Family Guy, Fox, 8:30PM
• Game of Thrones (season premiere), HBO, 9PM
• Mr. Selfridge, PBS, 9PM
• Overhaulin, Velocity, 9PM
• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Fox, 9PM
• Naked & Afraid, Discovery, 9PM
• Believe, NBC, 9PM
• Resurrection, ABC, 9PM
• Shameless (season finale), Showtime, 9PM
• Turn (series premiere), AMC, 9PM
• Silicon Valley (series premiere), HBO, 10PM
• Patton Oswalt: Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time, Comedy Central, 10PM
• Crisis, NBC, 10PM
• House of Lies (season finale), Showtime, 10PM
• Revenge, ABC, 10PM
• Veep (season premiere), HBO, 10:30PM
• Looking, HBO, 10:30PM

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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How To Design An Effective Business Banner

Many business owners today are aware of the many benefits that their business will receive through effective marketing; and one popular tool to draw the customers’ eye are vinyl banners of all sizes and shapes. These banners are used to announce grand openings, special sales, or community events. Before ordering a banner for your business, there are some helpful bits of information that you should be aware of. Once you’ve gathered the necessary facts and tips, you’ll be ready to create an attention grabbing, customer enticing business banner.

Make Sure Your Banner Will Hold Up to the Elements

The standard banner is usually constructed from a heavy-duty 13 ounce material. The printer will use special UV-resistant inks for your fonts and images. Many banners intended for use outside will have slits or other cuts in the fabric of the banner in order to allow the wind to blow through without causing a large amount of damage to the material. The majority of vinyl business banners have grommets to make hanging the banners easy and convenient. The use of the grommets also makes it fairly easy to put banners up and take them down.

Is Your Banner Big Enough to Get Your Message Across?

The business you choose to print your banners may have one standard size and shape or they may offer you a wide variety of sizes. You’ll want to increase the size of your banner for situations such as for advertising or for hanging on ballpark fences. Smaller banners are more useful to draw attention to sales inside your business or for a small-scale celebration. Choose your banner size based on how far away you want to target customers. Small banners will be up close and personal for the customers who are already at your business location while large banners will be targeted to a larger community of people who haven’t yet become customers.

Carefully Plan Your Message

The most effective messages will be quick and to the point. Try to limit yourself to about five or six words and then keep those words focused on your main point. You might want to consider messages such as “Buy One, Get One Free” or “Grand Opening Specials” or Today Only Sale”. These short messages will quickly share your plans with your customers, encouraging them to stop in. Proofread your message in order to avoid embarrassing spelling and grammar mistakes.

Make Good Use of Your Space

In order to keep your message clear and easy to read, try to use contrasting colors. If you have a white background, then choose a dark color for your font. If your background has darker colors, then use a light color for your font. The contrast between the font and the background will cause your message to jump out at your customers.

Another important thing to consider is how busy you want the sign to be. Too many images will create a jumbled and confusing message. Too few images and your sign will be boring and unenticing. However, you may want to err on the side of open space.

Add Your Company Logo

Personalize your banner with your business logo so that customers, both old and new, gain familiarity with your business. Choose high-resolution files when adding images to be sure that they show up in crisp clarity when the sign is complete.

At this point, you should be ready to make a sign. Take your plans to the printer and expect the best.

Fresh Deck Poker – Live Holdem Review: A very fast paced, flashy Texas Hold’em Experience [SP]

As you may or may not be aware, gambling apps are prohibited on the Google Play Store, which is a good or a bad thing depending on your predisposition. It is what it is, however, the next best thing for apps that feature games often associated with gambling is the freemium gaming model. I feel freemium gaming has an unnecessarily negative stigma associated with it because at the heart of the argument is: is the game worth playing? One such game that is succeeding in this mold is Fresh Deck Poker – Live Holdem, which offers a fast-paced, flashy approach to the Texas Hold-em card game. Let’s check it out and see if it has an ace up its sleeve.

What you’d notice immediately about Fresh Deck Poker is that it is very purple. This is the theme that developer Idles Games has elected to go with for the 2014 iteration of their Texas Hold’em game and will feature heavily throughout the game; don’t say I didn’t warn you. Right from the outset, you will notice that Fresh Deck Poker is very Facebook-centric; while there is an option to sign-in with Google+, the fact that you can continue to play the game either on your mobile device or Facebook itself means that this form of sign-in is preferred, and the game even offers you free chips to do so.

There are a plethora of game times to play in Fresh Deck Poker, ranging from your standard Sit N’ Go games to play quick, random matches right up to the Royal Hold-em which is Texas Hold’em played with a 20 card deck i.e. the top 5 cards in each suite. There definitely isn’t a shortage of game modes in Fresh Deck Poker, and there are also mini-games to help you replenish your stash of chips if you’re getting a bit low; while the game does offer you a stash of 500 chips every hour, if you’re big on risking it all, you might need to invest some time in these mini games.

Mini games like poker and scratchies give you the opportunity to win more chips, and if you’re feeling particularly lucky about winning more  through these mini games, you can always purchase more changes to win with real-world money. Being a freemium game, real-world money can be traded in for more chips, though as you might expect, there is no way to reverse this process and make chips into real money.

As for the actual games themselves, they can be played on tables with a maximum of either 5 or 9 hands, but of course, people will come and go depending on your game mode. Buttons to control your decisions are big and well marked out, however the current bets and the total pot is a little small for my liking. Throw in the fact that there is a timer for your turn, this can sometimes make your turn a little frantic. In some ways, this is an interesting take on Texas Hold’em by introducing speed into the equation (and you can be assured that the people at the table also have to make a decision), however there’s not really an opportunity for slightly newer players to carefully think out their moves. As such, I wouldn’t recommend Fresh Deck Poker if you’re new to Texas Hold’em and looking for a learning experience; for the season veteran however, there’s a lot to be explored and enjoyed in Fresh Deck Poker.

The community on Fresh Deck Poker seems to be quite active; while I have yet to play a game with a full table, the people that are there are good competition and most you can tell have been playing for some time. In terms of fairness, I haven’t run into any instances of unusual coincidences; Fresh Deck Poker boasts “the same framework as real money poker sites including being the only free poker game to have its random number generator certified by a 3rd party – as all real money poker sites have to” so if that’s the type of thing you take issue with, at least you know someone is losing real money to the game’s algorithms. Otherwise, the game appears to be very much random, like real poker.

As you level your profile up simply by participating in games, you will gradually unlock different avatars to choose from, some which require handing over additional chips. Some of these avatars are recognizable, some are kinda cool, and most are just pure random. Whatever your predisposition though, there is probably an avatar that suits it. It’s also neat that Idle Games also introduces seasonal/circumstantial avatars appropriate to the date; just this weekend past there were St. Patricks themed avatars to choose from. It’s a cute gimmick, and if you’re really serious about customizing your avatar, there are also even more exclusive avatars to purchase with real money.

Your profile stat sheet is always accessible from the menu which serves as a indicator of how good (or in my case, bad) you’re doing overall. There is also a Leaderboard where you can compare yourself to the friends that also play Fresh Deck Poker and presumably there is also a global leaderboard, but every time I uncheck the Friends Only option, the leaderboard menu closes.

Which brings me to my biggest peeve in Fresh Deck Poker. Most of the menus are fine tuned and the gameplay works very well, but there are times and places where I feel like the game could have had a little more tender, loving care. In particular, my very first experience of the game, multiple pop-ups assaulted my screen when I entered a Sit N’ Go game, and by the time I had gotten rid of all of them, my turn had been skipped. These events and general bugginess are few and far between, but when they happen, it feels like one small change could have saved a world of frustration.

That said, Fresh Deck Poker is overall a good game; as a freemium game, it does work very hard to try and convince you to part with your hard earned cash, however, it is very playable without even needing to do so. As I mentioned earlier, the game is a bit like jumping in at the deep end of the pool for people new to Texas Hold’em, but for those players who like a new challenge and a community that is very active, it’s something quick, different and has a lot to be explored. Best of all, it’s free to play and try so if you’re interested in check it out, the Play Store link can be found below.

Game: Fresh Deck Poker – Live Holdem

Play Store Link

iTunes Link

Price: Free

The government is about to make outdoor WiFi faster

Just over a year ago, the FCC said it was working on a proposal to make outdoor and public WiFi faster, and, well, it’s finally come to pass. Today, the outfit announced that it has freed some 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 5 gigahertz band, which will make wireless connections faster. By how much? Well, this could allow transfer rates of up to a gigabit per second for the likes of laptops, smartphones and tablets. It’d also immediately benefit beefy 802.11ac networks, according to Gigaom. If you’re thinking that your favorite coffee shop’s network could get faster as a result, that’s only part of the plan: the ruling also allows for the deployment of speedier outdoor WiFi hot spots.

As FCC commissioner Ajit Pai tells it, this could push the price of related gizmos down, too. If you want to see government employees liken licensed and unlicensed spectrums to peanut butter and jelly, or data transfers to Tom Selleck’s moustache (yes, really), hit the source links.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

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Via: Gigaom

Source: FCC